Five candidates, including three incumbents, are vying for three seats on the Farmington City Council in the Nov. 7 general election.

On Tuesday, in a candidate forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters Oakland Area, the hopefuls took their messages directly to the people.

On hand were the three incumbents — current Mayor Bill Galvin and council members Jeff Scott and Greg Cowley — and the two newcomers, Joe LaRussa and Maria Taylor.

The hour-long forum, conducted in the city council chambers at Farmington City Hall, touched a variety of subjects, ranging from parking and historic preservation to development and pension costs.

Some of the questions included issues such as:

Plans to improve infrastructure: The city is addressing street improvement, water system and other infrastructure improvements.

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Greg Cowley(Photo11: Bill Bresler | hometownlife.com)

"We have a five- and 10-year plan in place and we're executing it," Cowley said in response to the question. "The biggest issue we have is that we do not have a funding mechanism for capital improvements. How can you run a business without a capital improvement fund? We have got to find a funding source and push it into the capital improvement budget. Things like snowplows and trucks and all the things we need to facilitate services come from the capital improvement fund. We have no funding for capital improvements at this time."

Galvin pointed out that roads "are always the most visible" infrastructure issues and he said the city has prioritized the streets which need work.

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Jeff Scott(Photo11: Bill Bresler | hometownlife.com)

"One of first things you need to do with an infrastructure plan is to prioritize and that's what we've done," he said. "We've seen a lot of road projects this year at the city level ... that came directly from the tax dollars you pay in your property taxes. One of the ways to prioritize it is, when we have a water repair, we use the water fund to repair the road at the same time so we're not double-paying."

Redevelopment of the former Maxfield Training Center: The planning commission is currently reviewing proposals — the most recent for a high-density apartment complex — for the former MTC.

Scott pointed out that no proposal has been made to the city council yet.

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Joe LaRussa(Photo11: Bill Bresler | hometownlife.com)

"We've seen some preliminary sketches ... heard some early plans and input from the city," Scott said. "What I do want to see is a quality development ... we're anticipating it would be transformative for Farmington. I would like to see a public/private partnership to address parking issues, but until we have the developer come in front of us, I really need to hold back and give him his fair shake."

Taylor is opposed to the most recent proposal talked about at the planning commission. She said the city should be cognizant of the various population groups — families, especially those bringing kids into the city; seniors who've lived in Farmington a long time, but are looking to downsize and stay in the city; and young people who might not want to buy a house, but want to live in town.

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Bill Galvin(Photo11: Bill Bresler | hometownlife.com)

"There's overlap between what seniors and young people want," Taylor said. "They want a walkable downtown, things to do, a distinct vibe. Some might call that historic character, some might call it 'small town feel.' Young folks in my generation call it 'authenticity.' Farmington has that. I want to make sure we don't lose that, we don't become a generic downtown and the key to that is scale.

"For Maxfield, I would be in support of not a large apartment structure, but maybe townhouses like we have at The Orchards. I think it would be a good fit for the downtown, it would appeal to our target audiences and it would maintain the character that we love."

Parking: City officials have been studying parking issues for some time. Among possible solutions have been a parking deck and including parking among new development.

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Maria Taylor.(Photo11: Bill Bresler | hometownlife.com)

"The two pieces of this puzzle are, 'What's the long-term capacity"' and 'What are the right-now things we can do to either increase the perception there's available parking or provide services to supplement parking?'" LaRussa said. "The results of the parking study show there's a 50-space capacity problem on farmers market Saturdays and special events. I don't think you build a $5 million structure to solve a 50-space problem.

"In the old days, we'd call it a shuttle. Today, we have ride-share platforms that connect people who have transportation with people who need transportation," he added. "I took an Uber from my home to downtown Farmington, my driver was a Farmington resident, they made money, I didn't have to take up a parking spot and how nice would it be to take that $5 million we're going to spend on a piece of infrastructure and subsidize free rides for residents once a week every week for 10 years? That's a solution we can implement now. If it doesn't work, we can kill it and try something else."

Cowley disregards the notion of a parking structure at all.

"First of all, we don't have $5 million for a parking deck; there isn't a $5 million parking deck coming to Farmington," he said. "We need 500 parking spaces today, never mind growth. We're looking to develop a public/private parntership to bring additional parking capacity. We also have to look at adding surface parking where opportunities arise."

Video of the full forum is available, along with information about the candidates on the League of Women Voters Oakland Area website at www.lwvoa.org.